Dentists

Marion Francis—The creator of Crest toothpaste began his research in fluoride-strengthening, cavity-fighting agents as a graduate student at Iowa. PhD, Biochemistry, 1953.

Byron McKeeby—The pitchfork-weilding man in Grant Wood's American Gothic portrait was the artist's dentist, and a UI graduate. DDS, 1894.

Doctors

Nancy Andreasen—Psychiatrist, internationally renowned for her work on schizophrenia and creativity. MD, 1970.

Edmund Y. Chao—A leading national expert in musculoskeletal joint mechanics, bone fracture fixation and repair, and artificial joint replacement in the hip, knee, and shoulder. He established the Biomechanics Research Program at the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School. PhD, Mechanics and Hydraulics, 1971.

Kenneth Culver—Part of a team that pioneered the first use of gene therapy at the National Institutes of Health. MD, 1981.

Bruce Gantz—Internationally recognized for his work on the use of cochlear implants to restore hearing to profoundly deaf children and adults. BS, 1968; MD, 1974. MS, 1980. Current faculty member in the UI Carver College of Medicine.

Edward Mason—Known as the "father of obesity surgery," Mason began performing gastric bypass surgery at The University of Iowa in 1966. BA, 1943; MD, 1945.

Ignacio Ponseti—Perfected a non-surgical method of treating infants with clubfoot, a treatment now known as the "Ponseti method." He completed his residency certificate in orthopaedic surgery at Iowa in 1944. He died in 2009.

Sheldon Segal—Before he died in 2009, Segal led the development of birth control devices used by millions of women the world over. He trained as a reproductive biologist at The University of Iowa before being hired as a researcher for the Population Council in 1956.